Robert Oppenheimer on his early years and quantum physics
Background
The philosopher and historian Thomas Kuhn conducted this interview as part of a series of nearly 100 interviews that were part of the National Science Foundation-funded Sources for History of Quantum Physics project of the early 1960s. The original audio tapes are deposited at the American Philosophical Society. In matching audio to the transcript, please note that the sound quality of the recording is of uneven quality, particularly during the first twelve minutes of the interview, and that the transcript, which was intended to be read on its own, diverges from the recording in certain places.
Audio
Tape 1, Side A (pages 3 to 17) | Oppenheimer remembers his upbringing and his undergraduate education in physics at Harvard University.
Tape 1, Side B (pages 17 to 31) | Oppenheimer discusses his 1925-26 visit to Cambridge University, where he first became seriously interested in quantum physics and decided to focus on theory after struggling with experimentation.
Tape 2, Side A (pages 31 to 45) | Oppenheimer recalls his experiences from 1926 to 1927 as he worked toward a doctorate at the University of Göttingen, encountering many of the key figures who were developing quantum mechanics at that time.
Tape 2, Side B (pages 45 to 59) | Oppenheimer elaborates on different problems in and approaches to quantum mechanics that he encountered, and he discusses his visits to various institutions and his joint appointment at Berkeley and Caltech.
Tape 3, Side A (pages 59 to 72) | Kuhn and Oppenheimer continue discussing early problems facing quantum mechanics, and the interview concludes with Oppenheimer’s reflections on his role in propagating quantum physics in the United States.
*One further audio file not embedded here is a copy of the audio on pages 70 to 72 of the transcript.
Digital repository copies and metadata
Original typescript | Formatted transcript | Audio
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